In the art of conveying articles from A to B there are a plurality of solutions both with respect to the conveying structure and the conveyor belts used in order to address the issue of moving various objects from A to B. Common for all these installations is the fact that they are often purpose-built and comprise a very rigid stainless steel structure on which the conveyor belt is arranged.
For a number of purposes these prior art structures have a number of drawbacks in that it is very cumbersome and difficult to change the path of an existing conveyor structure in that the conveying structure originally was built and constructed for a certain conveying path and as such the stainless steel structure which has been welded together require substantial alterations in order to be able to change the path. For these purposes an existing conveyor structure is often scrapped and replaced by a new conveying structure having the desired path.
DE 202008009151 U1 discloses a versatile conveyor structure based on two parallel side beams. The side beams are provided with evenly spaced apertures (modular), such that it is possible to mount conveyor equipment such as drive pulleys, sprocket wheels/axles, conveyor belt support, belt tensioning means etc. As all equipment is suitable to be mounted on the side beams, it is relatively easy to assemble and disassemble the conveyor, replace broken or worn devices, service, and overall a relatively versatile conveyor system is provided.
As the conveyor system is bound by the two parallel mirror image side beams, alteration of the conveyor structure may require new longer side beams, or that the side beams be shortened. Only the side beams needs to be modified as all other devices are modular and are mountable in the apertures provided in the side beams.
Also for temporary purposes where it is desirable for a shorter or longer period of time to be able to use a conveyor for a specific task the known devices are quite expensive and not very versatile.